Duty? Maybe It's Really Self-Help

摘要

This courtroom has a disconcerting decora tive duality, like a person dressed only from the waist down. The lower half of the cavernous room has glowing wood wainscoting, and the well is set off by a surround of ornamental spindles. But above, the walls are flat and characterless, as though the money ran out, or the interest. Above the bench is the ubiquitous legend in mus-tardy gilt: in GOD we trust. The font is slightly off in several of the letters, as though they wore out from sheer exhaustion and had to be imperfectly replaced.